

h — * 





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B129-815-lm-8632 



BULLETIN 

OF THE 

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 

1915: No. 46 



AUGUST 15 



1915 



English in the High School 



BY 



Robert A. Law, Ph. D. 

Associate Professor of English 




Published by the University six times a month and entered as 

second class matter at the postomce at 

AUSTIN, TEXAS 



•*\Ai 



The benefits of education and of 
nseful knowledge, generally diffused 
through a community, are essential 
to the preservation of a free gov- 
ernment. 

Sam Houston. 



Cultivated mind is the guardian 
genius of democracy. . . . It is the 
only dictator that freemen acknowl- 
edge and the only security that free- 
men desire. 

Mirabeau B. Lamar. 



0. of B. 
JUL 1 1918 









.La 



This bulletin is largely a revision of one written under the 
same title by Professor Morgan Callaway, Jr., who for the past 
twenty-five years has been teaching English in the University of 
Texas. The general plan of the pamphlet is the same as his; 
the bibliographies have been only slightly revised by the addition 
of some recently published works. However, the words of com- 
ment are new, and though doubtless they echo those of Professor 
Callaway, he is in nowise responsible for the misjudgments of 
a younger man. R.A.L. 



ENGLISH IN THE HIGH SCHOOL 

(Three or Four Units May Be Offered.)* 

The teacher of English in school or college has a difficult task. 
His trials are apt to be due not to inherent difficulties in the 
subject that he teaches, or to lack of genuine interest on his 
own part or that of his pupils, but probably arise from the very 
magnitude of his work. In general, his object may be said to 
be twofold: he must cultivate in his pupils the habit of using 
their mother tongue effectively in speech and in writing, and he 
must train them to read, and to enjoy reading good books. 
But in order to habituate them to the use of effective language he 
must not only instruct how to avoid incorrect speech or writing, 
that is, teach the principles of grammar and rhetoric, but he must 
see that these principles are applied by giving abundant practice 
in oral and written composition. Yet however abundant and 
thorough this practice may be, he knows that his pupils will have 
frequent opportunities outside of his classroom and outside of 
the school to offset all his labors by speaking and writing care- 
less, incorrect English. Similarly he may have them to read 
good books and to appreciate the charm of those books, and yet 
he cannot be sure that his pupils' tastes will not be vitiated by 
their reading of trashy or harmful literature in periodical or 
book form at hours when they are not under his control. That 
is to say, his task is peculiarly difficult because to every pupil 
he is only one of a great many teachers of English. From 
daily companions, from parents, or even from other teachers, 
the pupil may learn habits that it is necessary to unlearn in the 
English classroom. 



*The fourth unit in English has been granted to a limited num- 
ber of Texas schools, in which the English course has been organized 
and slowly developed by competent teachers through a series of 
years. In general the granting of it implies a full year of good work 
in high-school English beyond what is required for admission to 
the University. Specifically, the course should include a general 
survey of English literature together with thorough training in 
composition and grammar. In accrediting schools stress is laid on 
the quality as well as the quantity of work done. However, the 
fourth unit is intended to be awarded only to specified graduates of 
schools that are credited with four units, and not to all who com- 
plete the English course. 



English in the High School 5 

Yet, as every experienced English teacher knows, such difficul- 
ties vary widely among pupils in the same class. Girls are apt 
to speak and to write more carefully than are boys and will more 
readily respond to the appeal of the best books. But the in- 
fluences that surround the pupil out of school, or those that have 
surrounded him in the past, count materially in his learning of 
English despite his own most diligent efforts. The home of one, 
girl may be a well of English undefiled, and associating with 
educated people all the time, that girl will find her English 
lessons easy. To another one they may be extremely hard, be- 
cause, for the greater part of every day, good English, like 
Parisian French to Chaucer's Prioress, is to her unknown. The 
Prioress, we may remember, though an exceedingly precise lady 
in many respects, seems to have spoken her French with a rural 
English accent ; so careful pupils of ours sometimes set our ears 
a-tingle with barbarisms learned elsewhere. To such people can 
English be taught? 

In a large class, possibly no; individually, yes. For "the 
English problem" is largely one of individual teaching. This 
pupil, who has read widely in a well selected library, requires 
little instruction in the choice of books, or even in his composi- 
tion ; as an old teacher of mine used to quote, "We grow like 
what we like." That pupil, on the other hand, who has read 
little besides what he has had to read in school and the comic 
supplements to the Sunday newspapers, must be taught line upon 
line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, until 
the wearied teacher wonders whether it is all worth while. Yet 
in no other way can English be taught him. Not solely the 
number of classes we meet, but also the number of pupils de- 
termines the extent of our labor. 

If, then, it be true that in our teaching of English we must 
address ourselves to the individual rather than to the class, it 
follows that the efficiency of this teaching will depend more 
largely upon our own personality than will the tea chine of other 
subjects like science, mathematics, and the foreign languages. 
No one would discount the importance of special training for the 
teacher. Certainly he should not attempt to teach English 
grammar until he possesses far better acquaintance with the his- 
torv of his mother tongue than he demands from his classes. 



6 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

He cannot expect his pupils to write correctly unless he himself 
has taken a fairly rigid course in English composition. Above 
all, he must not attempt to teach literature before he has read 
widely and intelligently in the works of the accepted masters. 
As for his pedagogical training, he will have occasion to use all 
that he can gather from theory and practice in the teaching of 
composition and literature alone. But that is just the point : the 
best equipment will not insure good teaching of either of these 
subjects. This is not quite so true of some other branches of 
study. Conceivably a poor teacher of German or of history 
may know his subject so well that his pupils will learn. Such a 
situation is well nigh impossible in English. Tact in con- 
ferring with the individual about his papers or his reading, tact 
in fitting the instruction to his particular case, is to be exercised 
every day. For this reason and for the reason that so many 
hours out of school must be spent by the English teacher in read- 
ing compositions, superintendents are urged not to overburden 
their teachers of English. Competent authorities advise me 
that one hundred pupils or six periods of teaching daily, are the 
very maximum for one person to handle. 

English teaching is difficult; it sorely taxes one's ingenuity as 
well as his physical strength. But it has its rewards. For the 
sheer joy of teaching comes not from the effervescent enthusiasm 
that one may arouse in a large class, but from the light that one 
sheds and sees enter in to certain dark recesses, from the reaction 
on the individual pupil's taste and character. We English 
teachers have, I am persuaded, the best chance of all to learn 
our pupils and to learn how much they are learning. But this 
means that all our teaching must be adapted to the particular 
pupil's needs. On that account in a pamphlet of this type no 
writer can afford to be dogmatic. All that he suggests about the 
teaching of English grammar, composition, and literature must, 
be accepted or rejected according to the special needs of those 
who are taught and of the community where they dwell. 

I. Grammar. 

Before entering the high school every pupil has probably 
studied the elements of English grammar. To' many the whole 
study is distasteful. Why, then, should there be general in- 



English in the High School 7 

sistence on a thorough review of the subject in either the first- 
or the last year of the high school course, with incidental teach- 
ing of it every year? Chiefly, to aid the pupil in composition. 
College teachers are practically unanimous in finding gram- 
matical blemishes common among those who come to them from 
the schools. One has only to keep his ears open in public places 
or to read the average American newspaper in order to observe 
the wide usage of bad grammar by men and women who have 
passed through school ; and, alas ! through college, also. Further 
investigation will show that these mistakes are due frequently to 
mere ignorance on the part of speakers or writers who would not 
consciously so blunder. A more thorough understanding of the 
principles governing his mother tongue, and a more careful ap- 
plication of these principles, would save the average speaker or 
writer from most of these errors. 

But the science of English grammar would be a profitable 
study even were it used merely as a training in logic. Our 
discrimination between the incorrect "M"e and John went," and 
the correct form of that expression, our objections to the equally 
incorrect phraseology, "from you and I," and "there was seven 
cars" — all these are mere logical distinctions. In a foreign lan- 
guage like German, it is said, mistakes of this nature are less- 
common than in our tongue, even among children. This is 
because the children's ears are trained to catch the proper in- 
flected form, while English is largely an uninflected language, 
where the brain must work as well as the ear. Correct English 
cannot be learned altogether by role ; we must know the reason 
for our few speech forms. Such training of the reasoning powers 
comes best in the high school years. 

Again, the high school course in "P" .fish grammar should 
acquaint the pupil with certain important facts of history. Such 
events as the coming of the Anglo-Saxons to Britain in the early 
part of the fifth century, the Norman conquest in 1066, and the 
setting-up of Caxton's printing press in the latter half of the 
fifteenth century, have profoundly influenced our language, as 
well as our literature and our whole civilization. While it is 
unnecessary for the teacher in the high school to carry over 
college methods and go deep into the multiplicity of changes 
from Anglo-Saxon to modern English grammar, yet he should 



8 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

be acquainted with the general character of these changes and 
should impart much of the information to his classes. Thus it 
is easy to correlate the history of the English language with the 
history of English literature, and with British history in gen- 
eral. At the same time even a partial knowledge by the pupil 
of the development of his mother tongue ought to enable him to 
use words with more discrimination. 

To acknowledge that the study of grammar is often distasteful 
to pupils, while we insist on its inherent interest as a training in 
composition, in logic, and in history is not so paradoxical as it 
may appear. For the distaste often arises because English 
grammar is so often improperly taught. It lends itself more 
readily than do most subjects to strict formalism, where the 
letter killeth and the spirit is lost to sight. That is to say, under 
tactless teachers it may easily become a mere mass of regulations, 
exceptions, and categories, to be memorized by the pupil once for 
all, but never applied in the world about him. Such teaching 
has brought the whole subject into disrepute. One may go to the 
other extreme and advocate no grammatical teaching beyond a 
brief syllabus of correct usage. But if what has just been stated 
as to the relation of grammar to other subjects be true, this 
practicalism will defeat its own ends and fail to accomplish other 
■ends at the same time. Certainly there are methods of teaching 
grammar by which the student may gain valuable information 
■as to the analysis and the development of his own language with- 
out overlooking the fact that the thorough understanding of 
rules and the ability to apply them are even more important than 
committing them to memory. 

Yet those of us who deal with pupils at a little older stage 
would generally plead for a more rigid mental discipline than 
they nowadays receive in early years ; for a better understanding 
of clear-cut definitions, a finer perception of the difference be- 
tween right and wrong. For this purpose vigorous effort on 
the teacher's part to detect and correct individual grammatical 
weaknesses should be supplemented by careful instruction in a 
high school text of English grammar. As means to learning 
some teachers still employ the old-time methods of parsing words 
and diagramming sentences. And for one the writer is yet to 



English in the High School 9 

be convinced that better time-saving devices for acquiring the 
truth are known to modern pedagogy. 

Bibliography* 

1. Text-bookst Suitable for High Schools: Allen's A School 
Grammar of the English Language (Heath) ; Carpenter's Eng- 
lish Grammar (M.) ; Kittredge and Farley's Advanced English 
Grammar (G.) ; Maxwell's Advanced Lessons in English Gram- 
mar (A. B. C.) ; West's The Revised English Grammar (P.) ; 
Whitney's Essentials of English Grammar (CI.), or Whitney and 
Lockwood's English Gramniar (G.). 

2. Books for the Teacher and for Reference: Bradley's The 
Making of English (M.) ; Emerson's History of the English 
Language (M.), or Lounsbury's History of the English Language 
(H.) ; Morris and Kellner's Historical Outlines of English Ac- 
cidene'e (M.) ; Kellner's Historical Outlines of English Syntax 
(M.) ; Onions 's An Advanced English Syntax (Sonnenschein & 
Co., London) ; Smith's Studies in English Syntax (G.) ; and the 
standard historical English grammar, that by Henry Sweet, of 
which there are three versions, all published by Frowde: (1) 
A X< w English Grammar. 2 vols. ; (2) A Short Historical English 
Grrammar; and (3) A Primer of Historical English Grammar. 
For the teacher who desires to learn Old and Middle English at 
first hand, perhaps the best books are Smith's Old English Gram- 
mar (Al.), Liddell's Chaucer (M.), and Emerson's A Middle 
English Reader (M.). 

3. Pedagogical Books: Carpenter. Baker, and Scott's The 
Teaching of English in the Elementary and the Secondary School 
(Longmans) ; Chubb's The Teaching of English in the Element- 
ary and the Secondary School CM.). 



*The abbreviations usfcd in this and the following bibliographies are 
as follows: A. B. C.=American Book Co., New York; Al.=Allyn & 
Bacon, Boston; Ap.=D. Appleton & Co., New York; F.=Henry Frowde, 
New York; G.=Ginn & Co., Boston; H.=Henry Holt & Co., New York; 
Heath=D. C. Heath & Co., Boston; Ho.=Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., 
Boston; Leach=Leach, Shewell, & Sanborn. Boston; Longmans=Long- 
mans. Green, & Co., New York; M.=The Macmillan Co., New York; 
p— G. P: Putnam's Sons, New York; Scott=Scott, Foresman, & Co., 
Chicago; Sibley=Sibley & Ducker, Boston; Silver=Silver, Burdett, & 
Co., New York. 

tThe text-books suitable for high schools, in this and the subsequent 
bibliographies, are arranged according to alphabetic sequence, not ac- 
cording to preference. 



10 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

II. Composition. 

The teaching of composition involves some instruction in 
formal rhetoric, with abundant practice in oral and written dis- 
course during each of the four years. The ultimate aim of this 
teaching is entirely practical — the mastery of a correct and clear 
English style by each pupil in the class. Therefore the theory, 
the formal text-book work, should at all times be subordinated 
to the practice. Whatever the pupil learns about exposition, 
persuasion, or various figures of speech is chiefly to assist him in 
expressing his own thought in the most effective way. But ef- 
fectiveness is lost when one addressing an educated audience 
uses incorrect language, and intelligent people will not be moved 
by words wholly vague or otherwise uncertain. To prune each 
pupil's style of barbarisms and inelegancies, and yet to leave its 
meaning free of all ambiguities — this is the goal of every con- 
scientious composition teacher. 

Frankly, it is a goal that will never be reached, but is none 
the less worth striving after. For to have every pupil write well 
means that each one must be able to express his own thought in his 
own way, and yet in a manner that does not conflict with gram- 
matical usage and that cannot be misunderstood. In composi- 
tion individual teaching is absolutely essential, for the style is 
the man and two people should not be trained to write alike. 
Often it is best not to assign the same theme subject to a whole 
class, but to take account of varying interests. One successful 
composition teacher of my acquaintance used to have each boy 
in his classes choose one large subject, like "fishing," "dogs," 
"my native town," or "the grocery business," and write four 
fairly long themes on different phases of that subject. In this 
way each one could write about his own hobby. Another suc- 
cessful teacher suggests that the ideal way to write themes is 
to have each pupil before writing a theme talk it over in- 
formally with his teacher while out for a walk. This plan recog- 
nizes the importance of individual conferences between teacher 
and pupil as well as the need of planning the theme carefully 
before beginning to write it. Of course, the ideal, like the goal 
just now mentioned, is unattainable; teachers do not have so 
many walks or the time for them at their disposal. Yet the 
principle is clear enough. And the more nearly we can approach 



English in the High School 11 

to the standard of effective self-expression by each pupil, the 
better will be the results of our teaching. 

Effective discourse, it has already been implied, demands both 
clearness and correctness from the writer or speaker. Clearness 
implies that one's meaning cannot be misunderstood. How far 
should we go in demanding correctness? Most colleges answer 
this question by stating that they will admit no student whose 
written work is marked by improper grammar, punctuation, 
spelling, or paragraphing. Generally speaking, this rule is by no 
means strictly enforced. If it were, freshman composition 
courses would change their nature. But is the situation with 
reference to grammar described a few moments ago, not humiliat- 
ing to us all? Is it proper that eighteen-year-old school boys 
and school girls should not be able to use their mother tongue 
grammatically, both in speech and in writing? Punctuation is 
not difficult for a serious person to learn. At bottom, all its 
rules are based on common sense. Haste and laziness are its 
chief enemies. English spelling, however, is difficult ; it does not 
follow rules or reason. It has all the frailties of a human being. 
But human nature seems to have changed very little during the 
past century or so, and reformers of English spelling appear to 
neutrals like myself to make little progress. For good 
or for evil, I fear, the rising generation will have to 
spell words much as they are now spelled. At any rate, 
as teachers of English it is our business to help those 
in trouble to learn to spell, which means that we must penalize 
them for misspelling and see that they correct the misspelled 
words. This point needs special emphasis. In the business 
world, in the social world, a man or a woman often has to pay 
heavily for weakness in spelling, which is proof, in the minds 
of many, of downright illiteracy. It is wholly unjust, then, to 
the boy or the girl in school or college not to insist on correct 
spelling in all written work. This may be a heavy demand on 
the teachers, but it is justified. The spelling on some papers 
submitted by Texas schools for affiliation with the University is 
sufficient to dishearten all friends of education. Of the im- 
portance of correct paragraphing much could be written, but it 
is enough to state that good paragraphs form an excellent test of 
clear thinking, and that "scrappy" paragraphs, three or four 



12 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

sentences long, indicate the opposite. Careful attention to 
grammar, punctuation, spelling, and paragraphing should result 
in fairly correct writing. 

But good style implies something more than correctness. "We 
have been discussing this quality from a merely negative stand- 
point without emphasizing the important truth that a writer 
must have something to say and say it. This is what Professor 
Palmer means when he argues that good English is marked by 
audacity as well as by accuracy. Even the schoolboy recognizes 
this need when he begs you in his vile slang phrase to "get a 
little more pep." The infusion of vigor, of vitality, of spon- 
taneity, call it by whatever dignified term you may, is sadly 
wanting in the average school or college composition. Animated 
enough these boys are in discussing a football match, a school 
election, a ranching experience, even at times so large a subject 
as the present European war. Only when they talk to their 
teacher or they take pen in hand does paralysis affect them. For 
this timidity we teachers are undoubtedly in large part to blame. 
We have been so zealous to correct errors that we have un- 
wittingly encouraged silence. We have erred and strayed in our 
neglect of the spoken language; accordingly average pupils can- 
not put three sentences together in our presence without feeling 
ashamed of themselves. Oral composition may here most 
definitely assist written work. Pupils should be encouraged to 
talk connectedly and without self-consciousness on simple topics 
in the classroom. Then perhaps they can better write down their 
thoughts on the same subjects. Certainly the charge of impotence 
brought against the style of college freshmen has foundation, and 
in their secondary schools these pupils can learn to make proper 
use of tongue and pen without too much fear of offending their 
teachers. 

It is for this purpose mainly that college teachers of English 
so strongly insist on the preparatory student's need of "abundant 
practice" in composition. Some would go even further and omit 
all instruction in text-book rhetoric for the first two years of the 
high school course, meanwhile demanding much written and oral 
work from the pupils. In many New England schools the cus- 
tom of requiring daily written themes is in vogue. A music 
teacher demands daily practice; why should not a composition 



English in tin High School 13 

teacher? The plan, if faithfully pursued, certainly results in 
giving pupils more self-confidence and fluency of style, at the 
same time enabling the instructor to obtain an intimate view 
of the pupil's daily life and interests. But it is an heroic meas- 
ure at best, and it has harmful results if one-page daily themes 
are substituted for all longer papers. Writing brief informal 
essays does not take the place of composing six or ten-page themes 
on more serious topics. The pupil should learn to do both. While 
he should be encouraged to write about things that he converses 
of daily on the playground or at the dinner table, opportunities 
should be seized for. papers concerning books read in his English, 
Latin, or history courses, or about topics like prohibition, co- 
education, the tenant problem, in which as a pupil or as a future 
citizen he should take an intelligent interest. In all these cases 
the teacher's business is to help each individual first formulate 
and then express his own thoughts effectively. The amount of 
practice given him should be determined by the amount necessary 
to fulfill this aim. 

Still not all the practice in composition assigned to him will 
lie under the direction of his English teacher. Instructors in 
foreign languages, in history, in mathematics, in the sciences, 
will probably demand from him in the course of the year much 
written and more oral work. If these lines chance to fall under 
the eye of any such teacher, he is strongly urged to assist the 
pupil to learn English by demanding that all oral exercises and 
written papers be expressed in careful, plain, and correct lan- 
guage. Such co-operation will help a fellow teacher, but it will 
be of far more benefit to the pupil in forcing him to apply what 
he has learned and to see that the correct use of the English 
language in communication with others besides his English teach- 
er is ;i mark of refinement and good sense. 

Bibliography. 

1. Text-Books Suitable for High Schools: Carpenter's 
ttln toric and English Composition (M.) ; Espenshade's The Es- 
s< nfials of Composition and Rhetoric (Heath) ; Gardiner, Kitt- 
redge. and Arnold's Manual of Composition and Rhetoric (G.) ; 
Genung's Outlines of Rhetoric (G.) ; Herriek and Damon's New 
Composition and Rhetoric for Schools (Scott) ; Payne's Learn to 



14 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

Spell (University Co-Operative Society, Austin) ; Scott and 
Denny's Elementary English Composition and New Composition- 
Rhetoric or Composition-Literature (Al.). 

2. Books for the Teacher and for Reference: Wendell's 
English Composition (Scribners, New York) ; Genung's The 
Working Principles of Rhetoric (G-.) ; Genung's Rhetorical 
Analysis (G.) ; Hill's The Principles of Rhetoric (Harpers, 
New York) ; Baldwin's A College Manual of Rhetoric (Long- 
mans) ; Gardiner's The Forms of Prose Literature (Scribners) ; 
Newcomer's Elements of Rhetoric (H.) ; Brewster's Studies in 
Structure and Style (M.) ; Hart's Handbook of Composition 
(Eldredge & Bro., Philadelphia) ; Palmer's Self -Cultivation in 
English (T. Y. Crowell & Co., New York) ; Scott and Denney's 
Paragraph-Writing, revised edition (Al.) ; Woolley's Handbook 
of Composition and Exercises in English (Heath) ; Greenough 
and Kittredge's Words and Their Ways in English Speech 
(M.) ; De Quincey's Essays on Style, Rhetoric, and Language, 
edited by Scott (Al.) ; Brewster's Representative Essays on the 
Theory of Style and Modern English Literary Criticism (M.) ; 
Baker and Huntington's Principles of Argumentation (G.) ; 
Brewster's Specimens of Narration (H.) ; Baldwin's Specimens 
of Description (H.) ; Lament's Specimens of Exposition (H.). 

3. Pedagogical Books : see 3 under Bibliography to Grammar. 

III. Literature. 

To lose sight of the primary object in teaching literature is 
both easier and more disastrous than is a similar mistake in 
teaching grammar or composition. This aim is succinctly ex- 
pressed by Professor Trent, I believe, "to make boys and girls 
lovers of books." Now the unintelligent teacher of English 
grammar at least knows that his main object is to impart in- 
formation, just as the inefficient composition teacher knows that 
his business is to correct papers. But the unsuccessful teacher 
of English literature rarely knows of his failure; he may have 
no warning bell to guide him back to safety. Often he seems to 
think that his chief end is to drill his students in facts about 
literature — names, authors, dates, and movements — rather than 
give them literature, itself. Again, he leaves the impression that 
Milton's "L Allegro" is nothing but a collection of figures of 



English in the High School 15 

speech, or of words to be etymologized, else a series of sen- 
tences nicely arranged for diagramming, or at most, a mass of 
historical and mythological allusions to be puzzled out by each 
scholar. Let no one misunderstand me. For one instructor in 
literature, I certainly believe in teaching literary biography and 
chronology, in explaining abstruse words, allusions, and figures 
of speech, and also, as I have hinted, in occasional diagramming. 
But taking account of all these things is not necessarily teaching 
literature. And when we get so much interested in matters of 
this nature that we fail to have our pupils understand the au- 
thor's real meaning in an obscure passage; or, what is worse, fail 
to convey to them any of the artistic charm which has made a 
given book a classic, then we overlook the main object in teaching 
this subject — to make boys and girls read intelligently and 
hunger for more. 

Our study of literature has a second purpose: to enable all 
our pupils to recognize qualities that distinguish a classic in 
poetry or prose from other writing that is fairly good. This 
distinction is not always easy to see, but it is real and it is im- 
portant. For example, many boys and girls have been brought 
up on the stories that appear in Saint Nicholas or The Youth's- 
Companion, or perhaps on the narratives of G. A. Henty. Now 
such reading possesses genuine interest and is distinctly health- 
ful in tone. The pupil accustomed to it is far easier to lead on 
to the novels of Scott, Eliot, and Thackeray than is the one who 
reads not at all, but pays daily visits to the moving picture show. 
Yet ours is the task not only to interest the pupil in Ivanhoc, 
Silas Marncr, and Henry Esmond, but to show him why in 
Bacon 's familiar phrase, some books are to be tasted, others to be 
swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. Tasting 
and swallowing palatable dishes are not disagreeable to the nor- 
mal person, but Americans, especially American youths, are pe- 
culiarly averse to lingering over their meals, and hence are pe- 
culiarly liable to suffer from dyspepsia. 

The figure holds. How often are we asked why we study 
poetry ! Most readers can appreciate the jingle of the Mother 
Goose rhymes, or, a little later, of so highly mechanical a poem as 
'The Bells," and finally of "The splendor falls on castle 
walls." "Why should intelligent men and women prefer 



16 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

one of these poems rather than another when none appeal to the 
intellect or to the moral faculties, but merely to the ear and to the 
emotions? Such a play as The Clansman is a study of life im- 
mediately surrounding us; Macbeth is a study of life in Scotland 
centuries ago. Both plots strongly appeal to our sense of right 
and wrong. Why are we justified in devoting days and weeks to 
the interpretation of one while many of us who have read the 
novel on which it is based desire never to see acted the other 
drama ? At bottom it is merely a matter of cultivated taste, based 
partly on our philosophy of life, partly on our conception of lite- 
rary art. This taste we should strive by all means to impart to our 
pupils. If their inclination runs rather to The Clansman than 
to Macbeth, to the verse of Ella Wheeler Wilcox rather than to 
the lyrics of Tennyson and Browning, our teaching should in- 
culcate better standards of judgment. 

Recognizing the distinction between the many books that are 
to be swallowed and the few that are to be chewed and digested, 
the National Conference on Uniform Entrance Requirements in 
English, a board composed of representative college and school 
teachers, selects every five years two lists of books, recommending 
one for study in secondary schools, and the other for less de- 
tailed reading. The purpose in preparing these lists is merely 
one of expediency to the colleges, the schools, and the book pub- 
lishers. Each college could easily compose its own lists and 
examine all incoming freshmen on these books, but this would 
cause utter confusion in schools that fit boys and girls for various 
institutions. By agreeing on uniform lists to hold for five years, 
the colleges prevent this confusion and insure to the publishers 
a certain sale for suitable editions of the books named. 

The list of books thus selected "for study" from 1915 to 1919 
is comparatively brief, though it allows more options than has 
been true heretofore. In general, it consists of twelve selections, 
including : several dramas of Shakespeare ; several poems of Mil- 
ton, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Shelley, and Keats ; several orations 
of Burke, Macaulay, Washington, Webster, and Lincoln; and 
several essays of Carlyle, Macaulay, and Emerson. From each 
of these four literary types, the student is to make one selection 
for his entrance examination into college, but in each case he is 
allowed three options. The four that he does elect he is sup- 



Enfflish in lh( High School 17 

posed to study closely until lie is able to analyze them in detail 
and interpret any particular passages from them. Yet even here 
it is necessary to caution teachers about the danger of exalting 
comment above text, and forcing the pupil to memorize ex- 
planatory notes rather than to appreciate the beauty of the 
author's thought and phrasing. Once he understands the piece 
of literature as a whole and each line in it, feeling keenly the 
beauty of what he has read, he may be said to have mastered 
the selection — to have chewed and digested it. 

Of the books to be swallowed, those marked "for reading," 
the Conference has selected a much longer list and stresses the 
large freedom of choice allowed thereby. The list is composed 
of five groups, from each of which the student or his teacher is 
expected to make two selections — ten books in all — for careful 
reading rather than detailed classroom study. These groups in- 
clude classics in translation, that is, parts of the Old Testament, 
the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid; some fourteen plays of 
Shakespeare ; practically the whole range of standard English 
and American prose fiction, from Malory to Stevenson and the 
short story writers; all the better known essays and biographies 
of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from Addison and 
Boswell to Lowell and Huxley; and a wide collection of lyric and 
brief narrative poems of the same centuries, with the addition of 
some older English and Scottish ballads. ^'Surelv the lover of 
literature will here find ampk,. opportunity to indulge his par- 
ticular fancies. For on^tpa. of these books, it will be remem- 
bered, is the pupil helcfjjpsponsible, and no high school teacher or 
pupil is expected to read all, yet the man or woman who has read 
most of them is likely to possess a catholic taste. 

A detailed explanation of the purpose and uses of these two 
lists has seemed necessary both because the plan is so often mis- 
understood, and because it has so profoundly affected the teach- 
ing of literature in American high schools and academies. But 
if the lists as now composed allow each school wide election for 
its course of study, the individual attitude of the University of 
Texas is and has been even more liberal. For the University, 
while basing its examinations otf these two lists, has not specially 
recommended the list "for«ftudy" to its affiliated schools, prefer- 



18 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

ring for each school to make up its own list from all the classics 
named. 

In the ' ' Graded List of Classics ' ' appended to these remarks, 
an effort is made to group the books recommended by the Con- 
ference "for study" and "for reading" according to the needs 
of each high school year. This grouping shows only slight re- 
vision from that given in previous University bulletins, some re- 
vision being rendered necessary by changes in the Conference 
Requirements. The underlying basis is the same as heretofore, 
that is, to make the relative difficulty of the classics the chief 
criterion in the grading, but after that to follow in the poetry 
a roughly chronological order, stressing American verse in the 
first year, then English poems of the classic period, of the roman- 
tic period, and finally of the Victorian period. But the division 
is not strictly chronological, and as to the relative difficulty of 
certain books opinions will always differ. Hence the grouping is 
to be considered as purely suggestive, and schools are expected to 
exercise full liberty in its use. For example, a teacher may 
desire to have his pupils read one of George Eliot's novels and 
choose for the purpose Adam Bede or The Mill on the Floss. 
In both these novels the plot best fits the later years of the high 
school course, and Eliot's name will accordingly be found in the 
third year. But if Silas Marner be chosen, as frequently is done 
to advantage in Texas high schools, the book might be used in the 
first year in place of some of the others given in that group. 
Another school might well prefer to study Washington and Web- 
ster 's orations along with Burke in the final year to bring out 
difference of style. Then a third school, not wishing to study 
Burke at all, might omit him and take up Washington and Web- 
ster along with a manual of American literature in the third or 
fourth year. Still the grouping has been done carefully, with 
much assistance from other Texas teachers, and may prove of 
some help in the mapping out of high school programs. 

About these fourteen or fifteen classics chosen for study and 
reading during the four high school years, the whole course in 
literature is likely to center with no harmful results to any one. 
Certainly no intelligent person, whether preparing for college or 
not, would be ungrateful to those responsible for making him ac- 
quainted with Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson, Macaulay, Scott, 



English in the High School 19 

Lowell, and the like masters during the formative years of his 
high school course. One need not be ultra-conservative to de- 
fend the inclusion of such fixed stars in the literary firmament 
in preference to some newly discovered comet whose range is 
uncertain and whose lustre is invisible to normal eyes. Yet these 
few classics should not comprise the pupil's entire reading for 
four years. To study or read six or eight such volumes each 
year ought not to tax heavily the high school pupil. Moreover, 
the vigorous teacher may wisely supplement these lists with other 
valuable works of special contemporary or local interest. For 
example, what active-minded American boy living in the next 
decade will not be interested in the whole subject of war and 
peace, in the relation of this country to each of the great European 
powers, in the history of Belgium and of Poland, and of Turkey, 
in the governments at Berlin and London and Petrograd? This 
literature is in the making, or perhaps yet to be planned, but an 
adequate school library should take account of such interest and 
provide suitable books to satisfy, instead of attempting to check 
it. These might naturally be used in the parallel reading oS 
individual pupils, where allowance should be made, if possible, 
for varying tastes. But the teacher may naturally enough desire 
to study with one class or another some volume not named with 
the classics or even on the supplementary reading list that fol- 
lows. Certain Texas schools, for instance, give special attention 
to Southern literature or to debating, studying one or more books 
that may be unknown to the present writer. In all such cases 
let it be understood that the list is intentionally suggestive, and 
not prescriptive; it is meant to help, not to hinder, individual 
judgment. 

Two problems that have been touched on demand fuller con- 
sideration : the relative importance of oral and written work, and 
the function of the literary manual. Necessarily most of the 
instruction in literature will be oral. The teacher's quizzing in 
the classroom will stir up interest in particular lines or phrases, 
in analysis of characters or plot, in the moral teaching, if, indeed, 
the moral exists. Sometimes the class profits by short, quick 
answers demanding rapid thought; at other times the teacher 
should require longer answers, which better test the pupil 's pow- 
ers of memory, of concentration, and of oral composition. In 



■'■::uiv 



20 



Bulletin of the University of Texas 



retelling the story of David Copperfield, a girl might learn how 
to choose words, how to put sentences together unconnected by 
continuous and's, how to speak before her fellows without hem- 
ming or hawing. Further good practice in oral English may be 
gained by memorizing suitable passages, and by having teacher 
and pupils daily to read aloud. Yet such practice should never 
wholly take the place of written work, however strongly weary 
teachers and lazy pupils (for we teachers are never lazy) may 
desire it. Papers are irksome to write and irksome to read, but 
they present a definite gauge of the pupil's intellectual capacity, 
or of his incapacity, which cannot be gained by any other means! 
Not all the pupil's written exercises in any one year should have 
to do with his study of literature, but unless a number of them 
cover this subject, his whole course may be full of sound and 
fury, signifying nothing. 

By a literary manual we mean a brief historical compendium 
of English or American literature. A good book of this kind, 
written in interesting style, and yet not giving too much com- 
ment on the selections that the pupil has or has not read, is al- 
most indispensable to the last years of the course. For students 
are expected to be acquainted with the most important facts in 
the lives of the authors whose works they read, and with the 
place of those authors in literary history. To do otherwise means 
not to understand what the author has written. No high school 
pupil should conceive of Shakespeare as a nineteenth^ century 
product, or of Byron as a contemporary of Pope. The purpose of 
the manual is to elucidate matters of this kind, and to give an or- 
derly account of the progress of literature. However, pretty 
nearly all that has been set down in this long section is beside the 
point if the teacher allows this manual to be substituted for the 
classics themselves. That is not satisfying a child's natural 
hunger for books with any kind of diet. It is letting him ask 
you for bread and offering him a stone. 

Bibliography. 

1. Text-Books Suitable for High Schools:— 
(a) Histories of English Literature: Halleck's English Lit- 
erature (A. B. C.) ; Long's English Literature (G.) ; Moody and 
Lovett's A First View of English Literature (Scribners) ; New 






English in the High School 21 

comer's English Literature (Scott) ; Pancoast's Introduction to 
English' Literature (II.); Simond's A Student's History of 
English Literature (Ho.). 

(b) Histories of American Literature: Bronson's American 
Literature (Heath); Long's American Literature (G.) ; New- 
comer's American Literature (Scott) ; Pancoast's Introduction 
to American Literature (H.) ; Pace's American Literature (Al.) ; 
Pattee's A History of American Literature (Silver). 

(c) Texts: The Riverside Literature Series (Ho.); The 
Lake English Classics (Scott) ; The Students' Series of English 
Classics (Leach) ; Longmans 's English Classics (Longmans) ; 
Macmillan's Pocket Classics (M.) ; Eclectic English Classics (A. 
B. C.) ; English Readings (H.) : Standard English Classie.s 
(G.) ; Gateway Series of English Texts (A. B. C.) ; Heath's 
English Classics (Heath) ; Palgrave's Golden Treasury of the 
Best Songs and Lyrics in the English Language (various pub- 
lishers), and the "second series" of the same (M.) ; Gayley 
and Young's Principles and Progress of English Poetry (M.) ; 
Syle's English Poems from Milton to Tennyson (Al.) ; Baldwin 
and Paul's English Poems (A. B. C.) ; Scudder's American 
Poems (11.): Payne's Southern Literary Readings (Rand Mc- 
Nally & Co., Chicago) ; Weber's The Southern Poets (M.) ; 
Trent's Southern Writers (M.) ; Mims and Payne's Southern 
Prose and Poetry (Scribners). 

2. Books for the Teacher and for Reference: — 
(a) History of English and American Literature: The Cam- 
bridge History of English Literature (P.), to be completed in 
fourteen volumes, of which eleven have appeared; Ten Brink's 
Early English Literature, 2 vols. (H.) ; Brooke's Early English 
Literature and English Literature from the Beginning to the 
Norman Conquest (M.) ; Schofield's English Literature from 
the Norman Conquest to Chaucer (M.) ; Saintsbury's Eliza- 
bethan Literature, Nineteenth Century Literature, and A Short 
History of English Literature (M.) ; Gosse's Eighteenth Century 
Literature (M.) ; Brooke's English Literature (M.) ; Taine's 
English Literature (H.) ; Richardson's American Literature, 2 
vols. (Putnams, New York) ; Cairns 's American Literature (Ox- 
ford Press, New York) ; Trent's American Literature (Ap.) ; 
Stedman's American Poets and Victorian Poets (Ho.) ; 



22 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

Holliday's History of Southern Literature (Neale Publishing 
Co., New York) ; Moses's The Literature of the South (C). 

(b) Biography: The English Men of Letters Series (M ) • 
The Great Writers Series (Walter Scott), to each volume of 
which is appended a bibliography; Modern English Writers 
Series (Dodd, Mead & Co.) ; Sidney Lee's Life of Shakespeare 
(M.) ; Neilson and Thorndike's Facts about Shakespeare (M.) • 
Stephen's Dictionary of National Biography (36 vols. M)' 
American Men of Letters Series (Ho.). 

(c) Literary Criticism : Winchester's Principles of Literary 
f*» < M -) 5 Cross 's The Development of the English Novel 
(M) ; Perry's A Study of Prose Fiction (Ho.) ; Campbell's The 
Study of the Novel (University of Texas Bulletin) ; Moulton's 
Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist (F.) ; Dowden's Shakespeare: 
His Mind and Art (Lemcke & Buechner, New York) • Bradley's 
Shakespearean Tragedy (M.) ; Baker's The Development of 
Shakespeare as a Dramatist (M.) ; Brandes's William Shake- 
speare: A Critical Study (M.) ; Freytag's Technique of the 
Drama (S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago) ; Woodbridge's The Drama; 
Its Law and Its Technique (Al.) ; Brooke's The Tudor Drama 
(Ho.) ; Matthews's A Study of the Drama (Ho.)- Spelling's 
Elizabethan Drama (2 vols., Ho.); Nettleton's English Drama 
m the Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (M ) • Cooper V 
Aristotle on the Art of Poetry (G.) ; Reed's English Lyrical 
Poetry from Its Origin to the Present Time (Yale University 
Press) ; Stedman's The Nature of Poetry (Ho) ; Neilson 's Essen- 
tials of Poetry (Ho.) ; Alden's An Introduction to Poetry (Ho) • 
Gayley and Scott's Methods and Materials of Literary Criti- 
cism (G.), with a full bibliography; Alden's Enolish Verse 
(H.) ; Bright and Miller's Elements of English Versification 
(G.) ; Brooke's Tennyson: His Art and Relation to Modern Life 
(P.) ; Brooke's The Poetry of Robert Browning (C.) ; Brooke's 
Milton (Ap.) ; Maynadier's The Arthur of the English Poets 
(Ho.). 

(d) Texts : The Globe Edition of the Poets (M ) • The Cam- 
bridge Edition of the Poets (Ho.) ; The Athenaeum Press Series 
(G.) ; annotated editions of Shakespeare: Furness's (Lippin- 
cott, Philadelphia), Rolfe's (A. B. C), Verity's (P.), Hudson's 
(G.), The Arden (Heath);. The Tudor (M.) ; Ward's The 



English in the High School 23 

English Poets (4 vols., M.), the best anthology; Palgrave's The 
Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrics in the English 
Language (M.,) ; Hale's Longer English Poems (M.) ; Bronson's 
English Poems (4 vols., The University of Chicago Press) ; 
Hutchison's British Poems (Scribners) ; Manly 's English Poetry 
(G.) ; Manly 's English Prose (G.) ; Pancoast's Standard English 
Poems (H.) ; The Century Readings in English Literature (The 
Century Co.) ; Newcomer's Twelve Centuries of English Poetry 
and Prose (Scott) ; Quiller- Couch's Oxford Book of English 
Verse (F.) ; Gayley's Representative English Comedies (3 vols., 
M.) Bronson's American Poems (University of Chicago Press) ; 
Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of American Literature 
(6 vols., The Century Company, New York) ; Stedman 's Victo- 
rian Anthology and American Anthology (Ho.) ; The Library 
of Southern Literature (15 vols., The Martin and Hoyt Co., 
Atlanta, Ga.) ; Carpenter and Brewster's Modern English Prose 
(M.) ; Craik's English Prose Selections (5 vols., M.) ; Cook and 
Tinker's Translations from Old English Poetry (G.) ; Cook and 
Tinker's Translations from Old English Prose (G.) ; Hall's 
Beowulf (Heath), Gummere's The Oldest English Epic (M.), 
or Child's Beowulf (Ho.), the two former giving a metrical and 
the latter a prose translation ; etc., etc. 

(e) Dictionaries, etc.: Webster's International (Merriam, 
Springfield, Mass.) ; The Century Dictionary (The Century Com- 
pany, New York) ; The Concise Oxford Dictionary (F.) ; 
Onions's Shakespeare Glossary (F.) ; Gayley's Classic Myths in 
English Literature (G.) ; Adams's Dictionary of American Au- 
thors (Ho.) y By land's Chronological Outlines of English Lit- 
erature (M.) ; Whitcomb's Chronological Outlines of American 
Literature CM.) ; etc., etc. 

3. Pedagogical Books: Trent, Hanson, and Brewster's An 
Introduction to the English Classics (G.) ; Hooker's Study Book 
of English Literature (Heath) ; see, also 3 under Bibliography 
to Grammar. 

Graded List of Classics for Reading and for Study 

First Tear 

Bunyan: Pilgrim's Progress, Part I. 
Cooper: Any one of the novels. 



24 



Bulletin of the University of Texas 



Dana: Two Years Before the Mast. 
Defoe: Robinson Crusoe, Part I. 
Franklin : Autobiography. 

n/r V r § ' : , ^ tl0nS fr ° m The SM - B <>ok (about 200 pages), 
or Life of Goldsmith. l s ; ' 

pageT^^ SeleCti0nS fr ° m The Life °f Scott ( ab «ut 200 

Macaulay: Lays of Ancient Rome, The Battle of Naseby, 
Hie Armada and Ivry. 

Old Testament, The: the chief narrative episodes in Genesis, 
Exodus Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Daniel, together 
with the books of Ruth and Esther. 

Parkman: The Oregon Trail. 

Scott: The Lady of the Lake or Marmion; any one of the 
novels. 

Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet or 
Richard the Third. 

Stevenson: Treasure Island, Kidnapped, or The Master of 
Ballantrae. 

Wa S hi ngton: Farewdl AMr ^ ^ ^^ 

year). 

Webster: Bunker Hill Oration* (see Burke under fourth 
year) . 

Selections from American poetry with special attention to Poe 
Lowell, Longfellow, and Whittier. 

Second Year 

Addison, Steele,, and Budgell: The Sir Roger de CoverUy 
Papers, or selections from The Tatter and The Spectator (about 

^00 pages). 

Austen, Jane : Any one of the novels. 

Boswell: Selections from the Life 'of Johnson (about 200 
pages) . 

Burney, Francis: Evelina. 

Dickens : Any one of the novels. 

Edgeworth, Maria: The Absentee, or Castle Rackrent. 

a^VZZf 10 ^^ "^ a Star indi cates that the book starred is rec- 
iJSS f ' by the various associations of preparatory schools and co? 
eges, for more particular study; but the University of Texas oreferi 
to leave the selection of such books to the individual teacher ? 



English in the High School 25 

Goldsmith: The Traveler and The Deserted Village; The 
Vicar of Wakefield. 

Hawthorne: The House of the Seven Gables, Twice Told 
Talcs, or Mosses from an Old Manse. 

Hughes: Tom Brown's School Days. 

Palgrave's Golden Treasury (First Series), Books II and III, 
with especial attention to Dryden, Collins, Gray, Cowper, and 
Burns. 

Pope : The Rape of the Lock. 

Reade: The Cloister and the Hear lit. 

Shakespeare: As You Like It*. Julius Caesar*, or King John. 

Stevenson: An Inland, Voyage and Travels with a Donkey. 

Swift: Gulliver's Travels (the voyages to Lilliput and to 
Brobdingnag) . 

Thackeray: Lectures on Swift, Addison, and Steele in The 
English Humourists. 

A collection of letters by various standard writers. 

Third Year 

Blackmore : Lorna Doone. 

Byron: Childe Harold, Canto III or IV; The Prisoner of 
Chillon. 

Coleridge : The Ancient Mariner, Christabel, and Kubla KJian. 

Eliot : Any one of the novels. 

Gaskell, Mrs. : Cranford. 

Holmes: The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. 

Homer: The Iliad (English translation, with the omission, 
if desired, of Books XI, XIII, XIV, XV, XVII, XXI. 

Homer: The Odyssey (English translation), with the omis- 
sion, if desired, of Books I, II, III, IV, V, XV, XVI f XVII. 

Kingsley: Westward Ho! or Hen ward the Wake. 

Lamb : Selections from the Essays of Elia. 

Lincoln : Speech at Cooper Union* ; selections from, in- 
cluding the two Inaugurals, the Speech in Independence Hall, 
the Speech at Gettysburg, the Last Public Address, and the 
Letter to Horace Greeley, along with a brief memoir or estimate 
of Lincoln. 

Macaulay: Speech on Copyright.* 

Palgrave's Golden Treasury (First Series), Book IV, with 



26 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

especial attention to Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley. 

Poe : Selected tales. 

Shakespeare: Henry V, Macbeth*, or A Midsummer Night's 
Dream. 

Southey : Life of Nelson. 

A collection of English and Scottish ballads ; as for example, 
some Robin Hood ballads, The Battle of Otterburn, King 
Estmsre, Young Beichan, Bewick and Graham, Sir Patrick Spens, 
and a selection from later ballads. 

Fourth Year 

Arnold: Sohrab and Bustum; The Forsaken Merman. 

Browning: Select Poems {Cavalier Tunes, "De Gustibus — ," 
Herve Biel, Rome Thoughts from Abroad, Home Thoughts from 
the Sea, How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, 
Incident of the French Camp, Instans Tyrannus, the Italian 
In England, My Last Duchess, Pheidippides, The Pied Piper, 
The Lost Leader, Up at a Villa — Down in the City. 

Burke: Speech on Conciliation with America* (or Washing- 
ton's Farewell Address and Webster's First Bunker Hill Ora- 
tion, or Lincoln's Speech at Cooper Union and Macaulay 's 
Speech on Copyright). 

Carlyle: Essay on Burns, with a selection from Burns 's 
poems,* or Emerson: Essay on Manners* (or Macaulay: Life 
of Johnson*). 

Huxley: Autobiography, and Selections from Lay Sermons, 
including the Addresses on Improving Natural Knowledge, A 
Liberal Education, and A Piece of Chalk. 

Lowell: Selected essays (about 150 pages). 

Macaulay : Any one of the following essays : Lord Clive, 
Warren Hastings, Milton, Addison, Goldsmith, Frederick the 
Great, Madame D'Arblay. 

Malory: Morte cU Arthur, (about 100 pages). 

Milton: II Penseroso*, L'Allegr)o*, and either Comus* or 
Lycidas* 

Euskin: Sesame and Lilies, or Selections (about 150 pages). 

Shakespeare: Hamlet* Coriolanus, Bichard the Second, or 
The Tempest. 

Tennyson : The Coming- of Arthur* The Holy Grail* and 



English in tin High School 27 

The Passing of Arthur* (or the selections from Milton, or those 
from Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley, already given) ; The 
Princess; or Garcth and Lynette, Lancelot and Elaine, and 
The Passing of Arthur. 

Thackeray : Any one of the novels. 

Thoreau : Wat den. 

Trevelyan : Selections from the Life and Letters of Macaulay 
(about 200 pages). 

Virgil: The Acne id (English translation). 

A collection of essays by Bacon, Lamb, De Quincey, Hazlitt. 
Emerson, and later writers. 

A collection of short stories by various standard writers. 

Graded List of Books for Supplementary Reading* 

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey : Story of a Bad Boy. 

Allen, James Lane: Flute and Violin, and Other Kentucky 
Tales and Romances (substituted for his The Choir Invisible, 
which latter is recommended by the National Educational As- 
sociation). 

Austin, Jane C. : Betty Alden. 

Burroughs, John: Sharp Eyes. 

Chesterfield, Lord: Letters. 

Dana, Richard Henry, Jr.: Two Years Before the Mast. 

De Amicis, Edmondo : Cuore. 

Dickens. Charles: Nicfiolas Nickleby. 

Dodge, Mary Mapes: Hans Brinker. 

Franklin, Benjamin: Autobiography. 

Grinnell, George Bird: The Story of the Indian. 

Hale, Edward Everett: The Man Without a Country. 

Harris, Joel Chandler: Uncle Remus (added). 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel : A ~\Yonder-Book. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel: Tanglewood Tales. 

Hughes, Thomas: Tom Brown at Rugby. 

Irving, Washington: The Sketch-Book. 

Irving, Washington: Life of Washington, edited by Fiske. 

Jewett, Sarah Orne : Tales of N( w England. 

Kipling, Rudyard: Jungle Book Xo. 1. 

Kipling, Rudyard: Jungle Book Xo. 2. 



*\Yith a few modifications, duly noted, this list is the one prepared 
by the National Educational Association, and published in 1899. 



28 Bulletin of the University of Texas 

Lamb, Charles : Tales from Shakespeare. 

Lincoln, Abraham: Inaugural and Gettysburg Speed,. 

Longfellow, Henry Waclsworth: Tales of a Wayside Inn. 

Macaulay, Thomas Babington : Letters. 

Macdonald, George : Back of the North Wind. 

Mims and Payne, Editors : Southern Prose and Poetry 
(added). 

Page, Curtis Hidden, Editor : The Chief American Poets 
(added). 

Page, Thomas Nelson: In Ole Virginia (added). 

Payne, L. W., Jr., Editor: Southern Literary Readings 
(added). 

Poe, Edgar Allan: Poems and Tales (both added). 

Scott, Sir Walter : Ivanhoe. 

Scott, Sir Walter : Quentin Durward. 

Scudder, Horace E., Editor: American Poems (added). 

Scudder, Horace E., Editor: American Prose (added). 

Shakespeare, William : Merchant of Venice. 

Smith, Francis Hopkins: Colonel Carter of Cartersville 
(added). 

Trent, William Peterfield, Editor: Southern Writers 
(added). 

Warner, Charles Dudley: Being a Boy. 

Washington, George: Rules of Conduct, Farewell Address. 

Weber, William Lander, Editor: Selections from the South- 
ern Poets (added). 

Webster, Daniel: Bunker Bill Speeches. 

Whittier, John Greenleaf : Snow Bound. 

Second Year 

Brown, Dr. John : Rab and His Friends. 
Browning, Mrs. Elizabeth Barrett: Lyrics and Sonnets 
{"Cry of the Children ,, ). 
Chester, Eliza: Girls and Women. 
Cooper, James Fenimore : The Last of the Mohicans. 
Dickens, Charles : A Tale of Two Cities. 
Eggleston, Edward: The Hoosier Schoolmaster. 
Fiske, John : The War of Independence. 
Froude, James Anthony: Julius Caesar. 
Griffis, William Elliott : ' Brave Little Holland. 



English in the High School 29 

Hale, Edward Everett, Editor: Bulfinch's Mythology. 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel : Twice-Told Tales. 
Irving, Washington : Tales of a Traveler. 
Kaufman, Rosalie: Young Folk's Plutarch. 
Lake Poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Sonthey. 
Lowell, James Russell : Vision of Sir 'Launfal. 
Miller, Oliver Thorne: Little People of Asia. 
Muloch, Dina Maria : John Halifax, Gentleman. 
Palgrave, Francis T., Editor: The Golden Treasury of Songs 
and Lyrics (added). 

Plato: Apology of Socrates. 

Pope, Alexander : Translations from the Iliad (Books I, VI, 
XXII, XXIV). 

Preston and Dodge : The Private Life of the Romans. 
Rolfe, William J.: Shakespeare the Boy. 
Roosevelt, Theodore: Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail. 
Roosevelt, Theodore, and Lodge, Henry Cabot: Hero Tales 
from American History. 

Scott, Sir Walter : The Lady of the Lake. 

Scott, Sir Walter: Marmion. 

Scott, Sir Walter: Kemhmrih. 

Shakespeare, William: Julius Caesar. 

Stockton, Francis Richard: Rudder Grange Stories. 

Warner, Charles Dudley : Backlog Stories. 

Third Year 

Arnold, Matthew : Critical Essays. 
Blackmore, Richard Doddridge: Lorna Boone. 
Church, Alfred John : Roman Life in the Days of Cicero. 
Craddock, Charles Egbert : The Prophet of the Great Smoky 
Mountains. 

Curtis, George William : Prue and I. 

Dickens, Charles: Dombey and Son. 

Dryden, John : Palamon and Arcite. 

Ebers, Georg : Uarda. 

Eliot, George : Silas Marner. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo : Essay on Friendship. 

Fiske, John: American Political Ideas. 

Goldsmith, Oliver: The Vicar of Wakefield. 



30 



Bulletin of the University of Texas 



Harrison, H. S. : Queed (added). 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: Our Old Home 
Henty, George Alfred: Wulf the Saxon. 
Henty, George Alfred: The Young Carthaginian. 
^Holmes, Oliver Wendell: The Autocrat of the Breakfast 

Irving, Washington: Legends of the Alhambra 
Kmgsley, Charles: The Roman and the Teuton 
Lowell, James Russell: Critical Essays 
Macaulay, Thomas Babington: Lord Clive 
Milton John: Minor Poems. 
Milton, John: Paradise Lost (Books I and II) 
Palgrave, Francis T., Editor: The Golden Treasury of Songs 
and Lyrics, Second Series (added). ff 

Phillips, Wendell: Lectures and Speeches 
Shakespeare, William: Richard II. 
Shakespeare, William : Twelfth Night. 
Shakespeare, William: Macbeth. 
Stevenson, Robert Louis : Kidnapped 
Thackeray, William Makepeace: The Newcomes 
Wallace, Lew: Ben Hur. 
Winthrop, Theodore : John Brent. 

Fourth Year 

«:r Josepb: sir Boger de "* ?<*»* - P , 

Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice 

Black, William: Judith Shakespeare. 

Bnggs L. R. : School, College, and Character (added) 

^riggs, L. R. : Routine and Ideals (added) . 

Bryce, James: American Commonwealth, (abrid-ed) 

P^ / E ^ lmd: S P eech on Conciliation with America. 

Cailyle, Thomas: Essay on Burns (with Poems by Burns) 

Chaucer Geoffrey: Selections from The Canterbury Tails 
done into Modern English hv W w en * ! ' 

(added). ^ngnsn by W. W. Skeat, several volumes 

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor : R ime of the Ancient Mariner 
B-eQumcey, Thomas: Joan of Arc (added) 
Dickens, Charles : David Copperfield. 



English in the High School 31 

Ebers, Georg: Egyptian Princess. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo: Conduct of Life. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo: Essay on Manners. 

Eliot, George: Romola. 

Fiske, John: Critical Period of American History. 

Fiske, John : The Destiny of Man. 

Gaskell, Mrs. Elizabeth: Life of Charlotte Bronte. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The Marble Faun. 

Lamb, Charles: Essays of Elia (added). 

Macaulay, Thomas Babington: Warren Hastings. 

Macaulay, Thomas Babington: Milton and Addison. 

Mackenzie, Robert: The Nineteenth Centura. 

Palgrave, Francis T.„ Editor: The Golden Treasury of Songs 
and Lyrics (added). 

Riis, Jacob August : How the Other Half Lives. 

Ruskin, John : Sesame and Lilies. 

Sehurz, Carl: Abraham Lincoln. 

Shakespeare, William : Hamlet. 

Spencer, Herbert: On Style (Part I). 

Tatlock, J. S. P., and Mackaye, Percy: The Modern Reader's 
Chaucer (added). 

Tennyson, Alfred: The Princess. 

Tennyson, Alfred: Enoch Arden, The Idylls of the King 
(both added). 

Thackeray, William Makepeace: Henry Esmond. 

Thoreau, Henry David : Waldcn. 

Warner, Charles Dudley: My Summer in a Garden. 

Winter, William: Shakespeare's England. 



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